The Place for New York Policy and politics

TESTIMONY BY MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG

BEFORE THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES

5/19/04

Governor Kean and members of the Commission: Welcome back to New York,
and thank you for asking me to testify before you today.

Over the last two days, these hearings have explored, in thorough and
often painful detail, what the City endured on September 11th, 2001.
The images have been vivid, the memories have been heart- wrenching, and
the questions have been pointed. I know that for the families who lost
loved ones, these hearings have undoubtedly re-opened the wounds. Our
thoughts and prayers are with them.

Understanding what happened on 9/11 is crucial to our success in winning
the war against terror and to explaining to those families why so many
were lost. That's why you have been empowered to make these inquiries.
This investigation is also a measure of our society's inherent strength
and confidence. The willingness to openly examine our institutions in
order to improve them demonstrates why, as former Mayor Giuliani has
pointed out, democracies are strong, and why free people will prevail
over terror.

Our Administration has shown a similar willingness to thoroughly and
openly examine the events of 9/11. Shortly after taking office, we
asked the management-consulting firm of McKinsey & Company to critically
analyze how the Police and Fire Departments responded that day. We made
the results of that study public, and we have turned them over to the
staff of this Commission.

That's because we, like you, are determined to learn from this tragedy.
I was sworn in less than four months after those savage attacks. After
the ceremony, the smoke was still rising as I watched members of the
Fire Department pull the body of one of their brothers out of the
rubble. It was clear to me and to my Administration that it was our
job to make sure the City learned the lessons of 9/11, so it would be
better prepared in the future.

We have worked hard to do just that-to build on the proud traditions of
service and sacrifice that have characterized our Police and Fire
Departments since their founding in the 19th century, and that still
animate those who protect our city today.

Yesterday you reviewed once again the heroic actions of our
City's firefighters and police officers on 9/11, many of whom gave their
lives in the greatest rescue effort in our history. The bravery and
professionalism they demonstrated never cease to amaze and inspire us.
And the firm leadership Mayor Giuliani showed that day and in the days
that followed gave us all the strength to endure, and the will to
prevail.

Building on their achievements and example, our task now is to achieve a
new level of preparedness and teamwork at all levels of government. I
am happy to say that President Bush, Governor George Pataki and their
Administrations have established just such a spirit of cooperation with
our city.

Today, almost 14 months after my first appearance before this
Commission, I want to describe what our Administration is doing to keep
New York City safe and free. I also want to urge this Commission in its
final report to recommend desperately needed reforms in the nation's
system of funding homeland security. It is a system that was irrational
the first time I testified. It remains tragically misguided today,
creating grave hazards not just for New Yorkers, but for all Americans.

There is no need for me to repeat in detail the testimony you
heard yesterday from Commissioners Kelly, Scoppetta, and Bruno. Suffice
it to say that today, New York is the safest big city in the nation,
better prepared than at any time in its history to prevent and respond
to any danger, no matter what its source.

Building on Mayor Giuliani's eight years of success, crime in
New York is nearly 16% lower than it was at this time three years ago.
Fire fatalities are at levels not seen since the 1930s. We've achieved
these results despite a fiscal crisis, despite the need to divert
precious resources to anti-terrorist activities, and despite the need to
protect the civil liberties of everyone who lives and works in our city,
even as we remain vigilant against terror. That's as it must be,
because the freedom to express our views, pursue our dreams, and worship
God as each sees fit is fundamental to our democracy. Sacrificing those
liberties-or making us fearful and keeping us in our homes-would give
the terrorists a victory without their firing a shot. That's a victory
we will never grant them.

All the agencies that protect our city are as well-led today as they
have ever been.

Yesterday, Commissioner Kelly described the threats against this City,
and the outstanding work of the New York Police Department in
counteracting and deterring them. Likewise, Commissioner Scoppetta
testified about the Fire Department's success in rebuilding from the
devastation of 9/11.

Yesterday's testimony also presented the steps we have taken to improve
communications within and between the Police and Fire Departments. The
Fire Department, for example, has new and more powerful radios that
permit more traffic during incidents, and enable Fire Department
officials to communicate directly with their Police counterparts.
Detailed new management policies and protocols have improved cooperation
between these departments.

Our ongoing counter-terrorism efforts also include a broad range of
other agencies, including our Departments of Health and Environmental
Protection. And many other City agencies, including but not limited to
the Departments of Sanitation, Transportation, Design and Construction,
have played instrumental roles in helping New York City recover and
rebuild since 9/11, and would be called on again should we be attacked.

Multi-agency training exercises also take place on a regular basis. On
Sunday, for example, we conducted "Operation Transit Safe," an exercise
involving more than 20 public agencies and private partners. It tested
our response to a simulated terrorist incident in the City's subway
system. The terrorist attack in Madrid on March 11th underscored the
vital importance of protecting a mass transit system used by seven
million riders each day.

Our Administration also has adopted a Citywide Incident Management
System, or "CIMS," that is consistent with Federal guidelines. It
provides a framework of action for emergency responders and enhances
interagency decision-making and communication.

We all seek clarity in complex situations. But that doesn't mean we
should seek simplistic solutions to complex situations. CIMS establishes
clear-cut lead agencies in the more day-to-day emergency situations.
Extraordinary catastrophes, such as explosions and plane crashes,
require robust responses with more than one primary agency. By setting
up unified command posts staffed by top-level chiefs, we can ensure that
the responses of all agencies are coordinated and effective, and that
each agency's core competency will be fully utilized. This sets up a
structure that requires inter-agency cooperation and coordination
without sacrificing the intra-agency chains of command that are crucial
to any emergency operations.

CIMS builds on a system promulgated under Mayor Giuliani, and integrates
lessons learned from 9/11 and its aftermath. In many respects, it
formalizes and improves the type of emergency response that New York
City has engaged in for many years, exemplified on 9/11. On that day,
the Fire Department took the lead in fighting the fires in the towers
and effecting the heroic rescue of civilians. The Police Department
addressed security concerns downtown and throughout the City. Other
agencies understood their responsibilities, and executed them very
well.

Perhaps the most impressive and comforting statistic is that on 9/11,
while 25,000 people were being evacuated from the World Trade Center
towers and many thousands more were being directed out of Lower
Manhattan to safety, response times by the police and firefighters to
calls elsewhere in the five boroughs were barely affected. If that
isn't a testament to organization, capability, training, communication,
dedication, creativity, and bravery-I don't know what is.

In the two years and eight months since 9/11, New York City has had a
number of emergencies-a fuel barge explosion on Staten Island, a
chemical explosion at a warehouse here in Manhattan, and others. On
each occasion, the relevant agencies successfully worked together to
protect New Yorkers-evidence of their training and professionalism.

When the city was blacked out last August, City agencies performed
superbly. More than 132,000 calls were logged into 911 during the
outage, almost three times more than average. Emergency Medical
Services personnel responded to more than 5,000 calls for help on August
14th, a record for one 24-hour period and 60% more than usual.
Firefighters put out 60 serious fires-six times the expected number on a
summer night. Because of their skill and cooperation, order and safety
were maintained under extraordinarily difficult conditions. And after
the blackout, I directed a full evaluation of the events of those days,
just as was the case with the McKinsey reports following 9/11, so that
we could learn what we could have done better. Like the McKinsey
reports, that report was made public when completed.

The armchair quarterbacks forget that New York City Police Officers and
Firefighters work together hundreds of times a day on such incidents as
building collapses, fires, and traffic accidents. Although much has
been made of the so-called "battle of the badges," these are isolated
episodes that are the result of individual, low-level breakdowns in
discipline. They are not the product of systemic problems and don't
occur higher up where it would jeopardize the mission of each agency.
Even the shortcomings that the have been identified by the Commission in
the City's response to 9/11 were the result of problems in
communications, not the result of any battle of the badges.

Certainly any system can be improved. CIMS is no exception. We will be
constantly evaluating and monitoring CIMS in order to do just that.
There will be extensive, on-going training to ensure its success. We
will adopt new technologies, match resources to changes in population
density and other conditions, and reduce duplicative services.

Several weeks ago, in my Executive Budget for the next fiscal year, I
set aside $1 billion in capital funds for a comprehensive overhaul of
the City's 911 dispatch system. What was the cutting edge system of the
70s is now obsolescent. We will take advantage of new technology to
centralize dispatch of our Police, Fire and EMS departments. By using
new technologies such as GPS, we will be able to better track our assets
and their deployment across agencies. This will make them more
efficient, eliminate duplication, and do a better job of protecting the
public. But even now, as we are improving the dispatching system, 911
operators now have the ability, training, and supervision to disseminate
relevant rescue information to 911 callers.

We have taken, and will take, all of these measures because we recognize
that New York faces far greater risk of terrorist attack than any other
City, other than perhaps our nation's capital. Senator Kerrey, you
asked Police Commissioner Kelly why NYC is different. Let me add to
what he said yesterday.

We are indeed "in the crosshairs." To people around the world, New York
City embodies what makes this nation great. That's a function of our
status as the world's financial capital, driven not only by Wall Street
but our international prominence in such fields as broadcasting, the
arts, entertainment and medicine. Such is New York's importance that,
to a great extent, as goes its economy, so goes the country's. If Wall
Street is destroyed, Main Street will suffer.

Beyond that, New York's embrace of intellectual and religious freedom
and cultural diversity makes us truly the World's Second Home. We are a
magnet for the talented and ambitious from every corner of the globe.
In short we embody the strengths of America's freedom-and that makes us
an inevitable target of those who hate our nation and what we stand for.

New York City has already been targeted by terrorists six times since
1993. Yet inexplicably, today New York State ranks 49th among the 50
states in per capita Homeland Security funding.

During Fiscal Year 2004, New York State received $5.47 per capita in
Homeland Security grants. Nebraska got $14.33 per capita; North Dakota
$30.42; Wyoming $38.31; and American Samoa $101.43.

The same problem plagues the distribution of bio-terror preparedness
funding provided by the Department of Health and Human Services to local
hospitals and public health systems. In Fiscal Year 2003, New York City
received $4.19 per capita and New York State $4.16 per capita, making
them 45th and 46th respectively of the 50 states and four local
jurisdictions eligible for funding.

By comparison, Nebraska got $7.03 per capita and Wyoming $15.69.

And what does it say of our national resolve to combat terrorism that
after everything this Commission has learned in the past year, our City
has been advised that Congress has reduced our proposed Homeland
Security funding for Fiscal 2004 by nearly half-from $188 million to

$96 million?

This is pork barrel politics at its worse. It's the kind of
shortsighted "me first" nonsense that gives Washington a bad name. It
also, unfortunately, has the effect of aiding and abetting those who
hate us and plot against us.

In the budget for Fiscal 2005 submitted to Congress, President Bush and
Homeland Security Secretary Ridge took steps to put Homeland Security
footing on a fair and rational basis, discarding per capita distribution
in favor of allocations based on actual risk and threat. In addition,
that proposed budget would increase to 54% the percentage of Homeland
Security funds distributed on a high-threat basis. But even the
distribution system based on threat analysis is being undermined as more
areas and cities are added. So far, the number of high-threat areas has
mushroomed from seven to 80.

We cannot allow this to continue or we will be back where we started.

This Commission must challenge Congress to follow the Bush
Administration's lead, and stop treating Homeland Security and
bio-terror preparedness funding as political pork. They should be
allocated on the basis of the real risks that we face. I urge this
Commission to recommend that in the strongest possible way. Any other
formula defies logic and undermines the seriousness of the country's
counter-terrorism efforts.

Washington has the whole Federal government protecting it. We need to
make sure that New York City, the economic engine that drives the entire
region, and arguably the country, has the resources it needs to protect
itself. As a nation, we must come to each other's aid in a manner that
protects us all.

The September 11th attacks took an enormous economic toll on New York
and New Yorkers. They contributed to a decline in City tax revenues
totaling almost $3 billion in fiscal years 2002 and 2003. The Bush
Administration and Congress responded with assurances of approximately
$20 billion in aid to help us rebuild. Because of that assistance, and
because of the hardiness and intrepid spirit of the eight million people
of New York, our economy is now growing again.

New Yorkers are grateful for the Federal assistance we have received.
We will never forget how the rest of the nation stood by us. Yet there
is still much to be done. So in addition to revising the allocation of
Homeland Security and bio-terror preparedness funding, there are several
additional recommendations. They would benefit any city that suffers a
terrorist attack. I would like to quickly summarize them for the
committee. I know your staff has been briefed on these previously, but
I believe their importance warrants my reviewing them now.

Amendments to the Stafford Act-the law that governs FEMA's ability to
reimburse localities-must be made to help cities that may be confronted
with the fiscal consequences of terrorist attacks in the future. The
amendments we have suggested would permit the reimbursement of local
expenditures associated with a response to terrorist activities, which
is not the case under present law. These include overtime costs for
emergency responders who are not at the actual site of an attack,
including those providing increased security at airports, bridges,
tunnels, and rail lines. The process for citizens to obtain various
forms of financial assistance must be streamlined so as to avoid the
long waits that occurred after 9/11. Increased funding over a longer
period of time for local mental health treatment must also be provided.

As we learned in New York, there can also be astronomical litigation
costs associated with the response to a terrorist attack. Fortunately
for New York and the private contractors who assisted us, the Federal
government ultimately funded an insurance program providing coverage for
claims brought by workers at Ground Zero who were not eligible for the
Victim Compensation Fund.

Such protection must be formalized rather than done on an ad hoc basis.
Congress should pass legislation now creating insurance that will
protect both employers and employees who someday may be asked to provide
their assistance in response to a terrorist attack. An incredible
public/private partnership at Ground Zero enabled so much to be done so
well and so swiftly. We must not deter such a similar response in the
future. That means ensuring that those who selflessly come forward to
provide their assistance after such attacks know they will be adequately
protected by insurance.

I want to commend the Commission for its assiduous efforts in analyzing
what led up to the attacks of September 11th, the response to those
attacks, and what needs to be done in light of them.

I know your staff has spent thousands of hours interviewing well over a
hundred members of our Fire and Police departments and the Office of
Emergency Management in an effort to get a complete picture of the day's
events, and of our current needs.

Like you, New York City has learned, and continues to learn, the lessons
of 9/11. To protect us, we clearly need well-trained and equipped
uniformed services, managed by experienced, intelligent and innovative
leaders. We must plan, and train, study and learn.

But we must also recognize that no matter how exhaustive our efforts, or
how realistic our simulations, the dynamics affecting the next real
world incident-the time of day or night, extremes of weather conditions,
and myriad other factors-will be different from what we've experienced
before.

Using hindsight, self-styled experts will always be able to say
that we should have done things differently. But in the real world, you
experience "the fog of war"-with sirens wailing, communications systems
overloaded, and rumors of all sorts flying about. It is easy to make
decisions when you know all the facts; the challenge is making decisions
when you don't have the facts. Those are the dynamics I bear in mind
when I conclude that on 9/11, it is amazing how well everyone
performed.

The world is a far more dangerous place that we thought it was on
September 10th, 2001.

But we were not defenseless then, nor are we now. From Mayor Giuliani
on down, those in charge on in our city on 9/11 showed us what must be
done. Following their example-and showing the willingness at the local
and national levels to put aside parochial interests in the service of
our common good-can and will keep us safe and free.

Gotham Gazette is published by Citizens Union Foundation and is made possible by support from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Altman Foundation,the Fund for the City of New York and donors to Citizens Union Foundation. Please consider supporting Citizens Union Foundation's public education programs. Critical early support to Gotham Gazette was provided by the Charles H. Revson Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.